andysworld!

Some services just don’t perform well being virtualised, so always test. An example SQL application, which when a query is executed through the application causes the virtual CPUs in the Guest OS, to spike at 100% CPU until the query has finished, rendering the Guest VM un-usable. The query in the application in the example, takes 13 minutes to finish, on a small 500MB SQL database. To the right of the workstation executing the query is the actual CPU Utilisation performance graph for the virtual Microsoft SQL Server with hits over 3GHz for 13 minutes, during the duration of the query. I suspect in this case a badly designed SQL vendor database – because the queries are running in parallel. But when the database is not your own creation, and is supplied as a vendors application, there is no choice, but to move to a physical server.

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/SQL-Final1.flv 480 360]

(The application has been blured due to obscure sensitive data).

Confirmed virtualisation was the issue, by moving the SQL database to a physical server.

The final installment of adding the iSCSI storage created by Starwinds iSCSI SAN Software on Windows 2008 R2 Standard in this article.

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/iscsi-part-2.flv 480 360]

I configure the software iSCSI initiator in vSphere ESXi server, connect to the iSCSI SAN, copy an ISO image from the previously create NFS datastore, to the new iSCSI LUN, and then create and boot a Windows XP guest on the iSCSI LUN, booting from the ISO image on the other LUN, it’s slow because it’s all running in Lab conditions, but you”ll get the idea, of how simple this is.

VMware vSphere 4.x (ESXi) does work when you remove the USB stick!

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/esxi-4x-works-it-you-remove-the-usb-stick_.flv 480 360]

(Not recommended!)

UPDATE

I later tested the following with the USB stick removed.

1. vMotion-ed 16 Windows XP workstations to the ESXi 4.1 U1 host with success.
2. Migrated 16 additioanl Windows XP workstations to the ESXi 4.1 U1 host with success, and Powered-On.
3. Re-configured and created new virtual switches.
4. Added New Network Interface connections.
5. vMotioned 16 Windows XP workstations off the ESXi 4.1 U1 host with success.
6. Powered-Off and Migrated 16 additioanl Windows XP workstations off the host ESXi 4.1 U1 host with success.
7. vMotioned Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 servers with success.

At all times, there was no issues with virtual machines or host server. The only issue I had was trying to install VMware Tools, which hung the virtual machine I was trying to install VMware Tools on, only this machine was affected, and it timeout with this error:-

VMware Tools installation issue with USB stick removed

But I would expect that error!

So is this document a “Dell Technical White Paper” a  load of bull!, it compares the Dell PowerEdge M910 and the HP Proliant BL685c G7 Blade, and suggests that if the USB stick falls out or is removed, or goes faulty ESXi 4.0 crashes!

Continuing my theme on adding network/shared storage to VMware vSphere 4.0 (ESX/ESXi), I’ve done NFS in my previous short videos, my attention is turned to iSCSI, and one of the best products on the market, in my opinion is iSCSI SAN Software by StarWind Software. And an entry level version is FREE.

I thought rather than type lots of words, about how good iSCSI Storage by StarWind iSCSI SAN Software is, I would create a quick video, they do say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So here it is, how create an iSCSI SAN for FREE, in less than 10 minutes for use with Windows 2008 R2, VMware vSphere, Citrix XEN, Hyper-V, Windows XP, Windows 7 …. iPad if there was an iSCSI initiator!

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/starwind-iscsi-part-1.flv 480 360]

Free iSCSI Storage from those nics guys at StarWind iSCSI SAN Software – StarWind Free Edition – iSCSI SAN with Deduplication.  A little note if you are going to use this in serious Production Environment, and run all your Finacial Organisations Virtual Servers on it, please upgrade to the Enterprise Versions!

In my next quick video, I show you how to attach these iSCSI disks to vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.x.

As I posted a video earlier, on Creating an NFS datastore for use with VMware vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.1 host server, I though I would complete the next part of the series, and show how to connect the datastore to VMware vSphere ESX/ESXi 4.x host server. I’ve also shown in the video, the mistake that lots of Administrators make when setting up, by not creating a VMKernel Portgroup for the NFS traffic, and the connection fails, the video shows the connection to the datastore, creating an iso folder on the datastore, confirmed by checking on the NFS server, and uploading a Windows XP iso image, connecting this image to a Virtual Machine, and booting the Virtual Machine from the iso image.

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/adding-an-nfs-datastore-to-a-vmware-vsphere-esxi-4x-host-server.flv 480 360]

I had a look at the You Tube video, and personally I think the quality was rubbish, so I’ve produced a new flash HD video here, which is much higher resolution, so you can see the important setup detail fo the NFS share, which is the issues for most NFS setups.

[flv:https://andysworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/nfs-server-setup.flv 480 360]